Arctic Chill

Description

Arctic Chill is dessert in a glass. This sweet late-harvest Vidal Blanc is the most indulgent wine we make — deep honey, ripe apricot and candied stone fruit, poured ice cold and sipped slowly. It comes in a 375 ml half bottle, which is exactly right for a wine this rich: a few generous dessert pours, nothing left over.

Why Late Harvest Makes It This Sweet

The secret is in the picking. We leave the Vidal Blanc grapes on the vine well past the regular harvest and let the autumn sun do the work, concentrating their natural sugars week after week. What comes out of the press is a full-flavored, exceptionally sweet white wine with wonderful honey- and apricot-like aromas and flavors. The sweetness tastes like it came from the fruit itself — because it did.

How to Serve Arctic Chill

Serve it cold, colder than you would serve an everyday white. The chill keeps all that sweetness bright and lively instead of heavy, and it makes the honey and apricot jump out of the glass. Use small glasses and pour a little at a time; this is a wine to linger over, not to fill a tumbler with.

• Sweetness: exceptionally sweet — a true dessert wine
• Tasting notes: honey, ripe apricot, candied stone fruit, a long sweet finish
• Grape: late-harvest Vidal Blanc
• Size: 375 ml half bottle
• Serve: well chilled, in small pours, after dinner
• Pairs with: cheesecake, fruit tarts and creamy vanilla desserts — or play it against salty cheeses and roasted nuts
• Availability: seasonal release — once it is gone, it is gone

Sweet, Salty, or Both

Arctic Chill is sweet enough to be dessert all by itself, and plenty of people drink it exactly that way. But the best thing you can do with a bottle this sweet is put something salty next to it. A wedge of sharp aged cheddar, a bowl of roasted almonds, a little blue cheese on a cracker — the salt cuts straight through the honey and resets your palate for the next sip. Build a small dessert board around it when friends are over and watch how fast the bottle disappears.

The Arctic Fox on the Label

The little white fox on the front suits what is inside the bottle: cool, bright, and a bit of a showstopper. It makes Arctic Chill an easy one to hand to someone as a gift, to bring to a holiday dinner, or to tuck away for the night you want something special without opening a full bottle. Pair it with a Deer Creek gift card and you have a present that takes about a minute to put together.

More Sweet Wines From Deer Creek

Arctic Chill is part of our playful FUNTIME Collection. If you like your wine on the sweeter side, try our #1 fall seller Grandma’s Apple Pie or the spiced orange Fireside Citrus, and browse all of our sweet wines and white wines to build a mixed case. You can also pour a taste of Arctic Chill in person — it is available at all of our tasting rooms, with a complimentary tasting on every visit.